Police Shoot, Kill Boy Carrying Toy Replica Assault Rifle

A 13-year-old boy, who was carrying a toy replica of an assault rifle, was shot and killed by two law enforcement officers in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Tuesday.

According to a press release by Sonoma County Sheriff Lt. Dennis O'Leary, two deputies saw the boy (Andy Lopez) walking with what appeared to be an AK-47 with a black magazine cartridge and brown butt.

The deputies reportedly called for backup and repeatedly told Andy to drop the "weapon," claimed Lt. O'Leary. The deputies then fired multiple rounds at the boy, killing him. The deputies later discovered the "weapon" was a replica, reports the Associated Press.

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The deputies then told the unresponsive boy to move away from the rifle, walked up and handcuffed him before giving him first aid and calling for an ambulance.

The deputies reportedly found a "plastic handgun" in the boy's waistband, but did not say if it was a toy. The officers have since been placed on administrative leave, said Lt. O'Leary.

Andy's father Rodrigo Lopez claims his son was carrying a toy gun that belonged to a friend.

"I told him what I tell him every day," Rodrigo told the The Press Democrat. "Behave yourself."

"First I heard a single siren and within seconds I heard seven shots go off, sounded like a nail gun, is what I thought it was," added neighbor Brian Zastrow.

"Why did they kill him? Why?" the boy's mother, Sujey Annel Cruz Cazarez, asked the media in the family's mobile home on Tuesday night.